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Australians plan biometric investment to secure border
NEWS/COMMENT ...Continued from page 3 sensor technology within a wide range of key Foxconn business areas. Next Biometrics intends to raise new equity Ì
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banking
Banco Santander Mexico deploys Nuance’s Vocal Password
B
anco Santander Mexico has deployed Nuance’s Vocal Password voice biometrics solution to replace PINs, passwords, and security questions in its automated phone banking system. Nuance believes this is the first customer-facing voice biometrics application in Mexico. Santander, one of the top five banks in Mexico, has launched Nuance’s VocalPassword solution so that customers who call in to the bank’s phone system can speak the phrase “At Banco Santander, my voice is my password” to be authenticated by their voiceprint when they call into Santander’s interactive voice response (IVR) phone system. Since the introduction of Nuance VocalPassword at Banco Santander Mexico, more than 1.7m customers have enrolled and authentication success rates have doubled.
ITCard connects Polish banks with fingervein biometrics
I
TCard SA, a major provider of banking services in Poland, has launched a biometric ATM shared network in Europe called Planet Cash. By the end of 2014 the company expects to have implemented a network of around 2000 biometric ATMs using Hitachi Europe’s fingervein technology. In March 2014, ITCARD signed an agreement with Hitachi Europe for the implementation of Finger Vein in 1730 Planet Cash ATMs. After the launch of the Planet Cash shared network, biometric services can be provided to all banks in Poland. ITCard processes more than 12m card transactions per month. It provides services to both 12
Biometric Technology Today
the co-operative and the commercial banking sectors. ITCard believes it is the first company in the world to have implemented a biometric host system allowing the different banks connected to the scheme to manage biometric transactions between themselves.
e-borders
Australians plan biometric investment to secure border
T
he Australian Immigration Department is to get AUS $2m over two years for biometrics software and equipment as part of the government’s bid to tighten Australia’s borders, reports theaustralian.com.
This comes as the government moves to expand its offshore biometrics programme beyond 20 countries as part of a plan to establish a global network of visa application centres and biometric collection centres to address border protection in the country. The Unisys Security Index 2014, published in May, found Australians support extending biometrics-based security measures to include verifying passengers boarding aircraft, but don’t support retailers using biometrics to make customised retail offers. Three in four Australians said they are willing to provide biometric information such as a fingerprint or photograph so that an automated boarding gate can confirm their identities when they board a flight. The survey also found 71% of Australians said that they would be willing to provide personal biometric data to prove their identities.
COMMENT Biometric technology has become a mandatory part of life for some people. In the Philippines at least 9.6 million registered voters nationwide will not be allowed to vote in the 2016 elections if they fail to update their voters’ records with biometrics. Registration through the biometrics system is compulsory in the 2016 polls and voters who don’t supply biometrics are automatically disqualified to vote. In Nigeria, commercial drivers in the capital must give up their biometric data by "VÌLiÀÊÀÊ >ÛiÊÌ iÀÊÛi ViÃÊ«Õ`i`ÊLÞÊ authorities, according to local sources. Yet in North America and Canada privacy advocates are having real influence in challenging and even rolling back implementation of biometric technology. In Florida, the authorities have pushed through a law prohibiting the collection of student biometric information in schools in the state of Florida. The International Biometrics & Identification Association (IBIA) has issued a press release expressing ‘deep disappointment’ at the move, which it believes is a ‘is a misguided attempt to protect student privacy and sets a bad precedent by broadly prohibiting the use of an innovative and beneficial technology’. Addressing privacy is a vital part of growing the biometrics sector, especially in the light of the latest revelations around the NSA’s harvesting of facial images. In this issue (page 10) we interview Isabelle Moeller,
chief executive at The Biometrics Institute. She points out that as an industry body, The Biometrics Institute clearly wants to see growth for the industry. It believes, however, that this growth is only going to be successful if biometrics are implemented with due consideration to privacy. The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has been consulting widely on the issue. In February it held a meeting populated by representatives from technology companies, trade groups, consumer groups, academic institutions and other organisations to start the proves of creating privacy safeguards for the commercial use of facial recognition technology. In May it published the document ‘Commercial facial recognition technology – proposed principles that might be incorporated into a code of conduct’ (http://tinyurl.com/l8myw4q) that emerged from its privacy multi-stakeholder process. The proposals were all supplied by stakeholders and cover recommendations for giving individual consumers control of their own biometrics, transparency about commercial use of facial recognition tech respecting the context of the capture and use of biometrics, and securing biometrics. The proposed principles also look at circumstances when consumers might want to access or delete biometric data held on them and issues around biometrics collected from young people and media use of collected images. The next meetings of stakeholders will be held in June. We await their outcomes with interest. Tracey Caldwell
June 2014
banking
Banco Santander Mexico deploys Nuance’s Vocal Password
B
anco Santander Mexico has deployed Nuance’s Vocal Password voice biometrics solution to replace PINs, passwords, and security questions in its automated phone banking system. Nuance believes this is the first customer-facing voice biometrics application in Mexico. Santander, one of the top five banks in Mexico, has launched Nuance’s VocalPassword solution so that customers who call in to the bank’s phone system can speak the phrase “At Banco Santander, my voice is my password” to be authenticated by their voiceprint when they call into Santander’s interactive voice response (IVR) phone system. Since the introduction of Nuance VocalPassword at Banco Santander Mexico, more than 1.7m customers have enrolled and authentication success rates have doubled.
ITCard connects Polish banks with fingervein biometrics
I
TCard SA, a major provider of banking services in Poland, has launched a biometric ATM shared network in Europe called Planet Cash. By the end of 2014 the company expects to have implemented a network of around 2000 biometric ATMs using Hitachi Europe’s fingervein technology. In March 2014, ITCARD signed an agreement with Hitachi Europe for the implementation of Finger Vein in 1730 Planet Cash ATMs. After the launch of the Planet Cash shared network, biometric services can be provided to all banks in Poland. ITCard processes more than 12m card transactions per month. It provides services to both 12
Biometric Technology Today
the co-operative and the commercial banking sectors. ITCard believes it is the first company in the world to have implemented a biometric host system allowing the different banks connected to the scheme to manage biometric transactions between themselves.
e-borders
Australians plan biometric investment to secure border
T
he Australian Immigration Department is to get AUS $2m over two years for biometrics software and equipment as part of the government’s bid to tighten Australia’s borders, reports theaustralian.com.
This comes as the government moves to expand its offshore biometrics programme beyond 20 countries as part of a plan to establish a global network of visa application centres and biometric collection centres to address border protection in the country. The Unisys Security Index 2014, published in May, found Australians support extending biometrics-based security measures to include verifying passengers boarding aircraft, but don’t support retailers using biometrics to make customised retail offers. Three in four Australians said they are willing to provide biometric information such as a fingerprint or photograph so that an automated boarding gate can confirm their identities when they board a flight. The survey also found 71% of Australians said that they would be willing to provide personal biometric data to prove their identities.
COMMENT Biometric technology has become a mandatory part of life for some people. In the Philippines at least 9.6 million registered voters nationwide will not be allowed to vote in the 2016 elections if they fail to update their voters’ records with biometrics. Registration through the biometrics system is compulsory in the 2016 polls and voters who don’t supply biometrics are automatically disqualified to vote. In Nigeria, commercial drivers in the capital must give up their biometric data by "VÌLiÀÊÀÊ >ÛiÊÌ iÀÊÛi ViÃÊ«Õ`i`ÊLÞÊ authorities, according to local sources. Yet in North America and Canada privacy advocates are having real influence in challenging and even rolling back implementation of biometric technology. In Florida, the authorities have pushed through a law prohibiting the collection of student biometric information in schools in the state of Florida. The International Biometrics & Identification Association (IBIA) has issued a press release expressing ‘deep disappointment’ at the move, which it believes is a ‘is a misguided attempt to protect student privacy and sets a bad precedent by broadly prohibiting the use of an innovative and beneficial technology’. Addressing privacy is a vital part of growing the biometrics sector, especially in the light of the latest revelations around the NSA’s harvesting of facial images. In this issue (page 10) we interview Isabelle Moeller,
chief executive at The Biometrics Institute. She points out that as an industry body, The Biometrics Institute clearly wants to see growth for the industry. It believes, however, that this growth is only going to be successful if biometrics are implemented with due consideration to privacy. The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has been consulting widely on the issue. In February it held a meeting populated by representatives from technology companies, trade groups, consumer groups, academic institutions and other organisations to start the proves of creating privacy safeguards for the commercial use of facial recognition technology. In May it published the document ‘Commercial facial recognition technology – proposed principles that might be incorporated into a code of conduct’ (http://tinyurl.com/l8myw4q) that emerged from its privacy multi-stakeholder process. The proposals were all supplied by stakeholders and cover recommendations for giving individual consumers control of their own biometrics, transparency about commercial use of facial recognition tech respecting the context of the capture and use of biometrics, and securing biometrics. The proposed principles also look at circumstances when consumers might want to access or delete biometric data held on them and issues around biometrics collected from young people and media use of collected images. The next meetings of stakeholders will be held in June. We await their outcomes with interest. Tracey Caldwell
June 2014